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Saturday, November 19, 2016

Book Review - Race the Darkness by Abbie Roads

Xander was struck by lightning. It didn't only scar his face, it also gave him psychic abilities. He can hear people's thoughts. There's something else that changed since his accident and it's bothering him, he's hearing a voice in his head. There's a woman calling for help and he thinks he's going insane. Whenever she's there he wants to numb the screams as quickly as he can. He has no idea that the voice might actually be real.

Isleen has lived a large part of her life in captivity. She's being starved and tortured, but in her dreams she can escape. A brave and gorgeous man visits her and she feels loved and safe when she's in his arms. She's been told this man is real, but if that's actually true, why doesn't he come and rescue her? Isleen has to keep believing, but she's getting weaker every day. For how much longer can she keep going?

Race the Darkness is a beautiful story about two kindhearted people. Xander is a good man with a wonderful warm personality. He makes mistakes from time to time and he's brave enough to admit this. He's protective, he's fierce and he's strong. He uses his abilities working as a criminal consultant and he always manages to get the right information. He's pretty lonely and I kept hoping he would find someone to share his life with. Isleen is incredibly courageous and she is tough. Even though she's spent many years in a dark cell she keeps believing there will be something better for her. She's a young woman who's been through so much already, but the madness doesn't seem to stop. The moment Xander and Isleen finally meet is very special and it's a fantastic turning point in the story.

Abbie Roads has a vivid writing style that has an easy flow. I enjoyed reading about the psychic abilities of her main characters. They are facing great evil and they desperately need the advantages they have. Race the Darkness has many creative twists and turns. I loved being surprised by the story over and over again. It's interesting and dynamic with plenty of adrenaline rushes. I read this book in one sitting and I flew through the pages. Abbie Roads kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading her story. I loved this incredibly romantic and action-packed first part of the Fatal Dreams series and can't wait to read more.

Advice

If you love a good energetic, romantic and mysterious story about main characters with supernatural abilities you should definitely get yourself a copy of Race the Darkness.

Not unless he suddenly sprouted blue tights and a red cape. The hope of escape morphed into despair and resignation and finally reckless pissed-off-ness. No fucking way was he going to die running. He stopped, turned, and faced the truck barreling toward them. The tires ate up the ground at an indecent rate. He clutched Isleen tighter to his chest. For her sake, he wanted it to be a quick death. No more lingering. No more pain.

That thought infuriated him. None of this was right. They shouldn’t be on the verge of death. Again.

The truck kept coming—now twenty-five feet away.

Everything slowed, happening as if through the quicksand of time. A white dandelion floaty meandered on the breeze directly between them and the truck. His heart no longer ran a staccato rhythm. Duh…dum. Pause. Duh…dum. Pause.

His life didn’t flash before his eyes. The future did. Isleen’s future. In an ethereal dream beyond time, her skin was gilded by firelight, her eyes devoid of sadness and fear, her body whole and healthy. She smiled, an expression so full of warmth and tenderness and undiluted joy that it plunked itself down inside his heart and wouldn’t leave.

He ached to create that kind of smile on her face, but their lives were over. It all could’ve gone so differently if he’d only listened to her, believed in her, found her years before now.

The air changed, displaced by the truck only a few feet from them. Heat from the engine blasted his face, smelling of burning oil, gasoline, and a scent reminiscent of popped corn. He locked eyes with the bitch behind the wheel. Her pudgy lips ripped back over her teeth in a snarling scream.

Xander knew anger—his best friends were fury and rage—but the look on the bitch’s face went beyond mere anger all the way to unholy.

The truck imploded.

The sound was supersonic, a resonation that rippled through his skin and muscle to rattle his bones and shake the earth underneath his feet. Metal and glass and fire shot outward, skyward, backward, in a near-perfect arc of destruction. Flaming debris rained around them.

He stood there holding Isleen, watching it happen, not believing the message his eyes sent to his brain.

“What the…?” The last of the truck parts hit the ground. The pieces burned. That’s all that was left—pieces. Nothing touched them, like they resided under an invisible dome of protection.

He glanced down at Isleen for an answer, but she was unconscious, her head lolling so limply on

I have an ARC of this book, but I haven't gotten to reading it yet. I am glad that you mentioned being surprised over and over again in your review, because those are the kinds of books that I enjoy most. Ones that leave me guessing and at the edge of my seat.

Normally I wouldn't read this book because the cover just doesn't appeal to me as a reader. However, I really like paranormal stories, and the little excerpt you provided sounds interesting. Pinning! Dianna